High Charity is the fourteenth and penultimate campaign level of Halo 2. As John-117, you must battle your way through the Flood-infested High Charity to stop the Prophet of Truth before he boards the Forerunner Ship. This is the last level you get to play as John-117 in Halo 2. This level is also the only time when Master Chief sees the Flood in combat in Halo 2, and also the only level in the game where you have no allies aiding you. It is also the shortest (playable) campaign level. You can find the Iron Skull on this level.

Cortana: "That structure, at the center of the city... it's a Forerunner Ship! And Truth is heading straight for it! If he leads the Covenant fleet to Earth, they won't stand a chance. You have to stop him!"

Cortana: "Flood controlled dropships are touching down all over the city! That creature beneath the Library... that 'Gravemind'... used us. We were just a diversion. In Amber Clad was always its intended vector. There's a conduit connecting this tower to the ship. Head back inside. I'll lead you to it."

If John wastes time fighting:

Cortana: "We don't have time for this, Chief. Truth's Phantom is nearing the Forerunner Ship."

John soon reaches a Gravity lift leading upstairs.

Cortana: "I'll disable this lift once you reach the top. That'll slow them down... I hope."

After John reaches to the top:

Prophet of Truth (Loudspeaker): "Shall we let the Flood consume our holy city? Turn High Charity into another of their wretched hives? No enemy has ever withstood our might. The Flood too shall fail."

As John watches a skirmish between several flood combat forms with a swarm of drones and one brute:

Cortana: "I'll do what I can to slow the launch sequence, but there's something inside the ship...a presence that's fighting back. For a Covenant construct, it's unusually formidable."

If John remains in the chamber for too long:

Cortana: "No time to admire the ceiling, Chief. Truth's Phantom has reached the Forerunner ship."

Prophet of Truth (Loudspeaker): "This crisis will not be the end of us. It is but one last hurdle before the journey and salvation!"

John enters the Inner Sanctum amidst a fight between several Covenant defenses and Flood forces.

Cortana: "Brute and Elite ships are engaging one another all around High Charity. I'm running out of options, Chief. I can't stall the launch sequence much longer. The next lift will take you up to the conduit. Hurry!"

The Forerunner ship leaving High Charity from Cortana's point of view.

Cortana: "I knew the Covenant were good at re-purposing Forerunner technology, but this is amazing... They've been using the Forerunner ship's engines as an energy source for the city. The ship isn't so much launching as it is disengaging; uncoupling itself from High Charity's power grid - Stopping Truth, that's all that matters!"

Prophet of Truth (Loudspeaker): "Now is the time of our unworlding, in a moment we shall all become...as gods."

John enters the conduit on a large, green beam of light. The Forerunner dreadnought starts to launch, and he enters through a large portal, landing with scrapes flickering off his armor.

Cortana: "Chief, when you get to Earth...good luck."

Master Chief: "After I'm through with Truth..."

Cortana: "Don't make a girl a promise...if you know you can't keep it."

Cortana watches the ship rise, and exit through the top of High Charity, where Brute-controlled and Elite-controlled ships are continuing to destroy one another. Soon the Dreadnought enters slipspace, and vanishes.

The Flood Juggernaut's data (such as model, textures, etc.) are stored on this .map file, although it only has spawn points on Quarantine Zone and The Oracle, where its data is not present.

When you get to the last room with the green beam across the room to the ship, you can get on the beam by just going on top of one of the Covenant boxes and then jump on the beam and walk forward, but you will have to stop because if you go more forward, the cutscene appears.

If you knock a Combat Form off the side of the ramps of the Phantom dock, it will climb up the walls, similar to the ones that do the same during the elevator ride in The Oracle. But, they cannot jump into the deck.

Like in The Oracle, small Flood biomass can be destroyed. It will just disappear and leave a bit of Flood blood.

There is still a Phantom docked on the landing pad at the start of the level, but an energy field prevents you from walking on the back fins. It should also be noted that it has no weaponry, pronged plasma turrets or anything.

A dead body of a Brute that looks just like Tartarus can be found on this level in one of the many rooms; he has exactly the same shoulder piece (which is easy to recognize).

In the room with the glass shards hanging from the ceiling after the corridor where you first hear Truth over the loudspeaker, there is an unknown and hard-to-see switch that looks just like the switches used to activate the gondolas on the level Delta Halo. To see it (with the best view), bring a Particle Beam Rifle and head to the platform on the other side of the chamber (across from where you entered). Once you get there, head to the glowing panel in the platform (it points to the center of the room). Look to your left at the platform and the door where the Drones come from (when you reach the platform). Look at that platform's glowing panel, zoom in to 5x, and look up slightly. You should see the switch around there, and you can zoom in to 10x and see the switch in closer detail. However, there is no known way to get to it (unless by mod) and activate it, so its purpose is unknown.

If you are playing on co-op right after you reach the area with the Brutes, Flood, and Drones fighting there will be a Human Combat Form holding a Sniper Rifle.

The Prophet of Truth talks over the loudspeakers from time to time during the level, one of these times he says that "one final effort is all that remains". This line is repeated by Admiral Hood in Halo 3. This line originates from dialog recording sessions conducted pre-Halo where Jaime Griesemer is directing Jason Jones in a painful attempt at a Scottish accent. An mp3 of the clip is available on Bungie.net media player Bungie.net News: Bungie Day Memories. One Final Effort is also the name of a song on the Halo 3 Original Soundtrack. It is played when you are on the snowy part of the level The Covenant and when you are fighting the two Scarabs.

The track that plays during the Inner Sanctum segment is a shorter version of the track that played during the Lab segment of the Oracle.

The Flood mass in the Pelican's cockpit isn't a Proto-Gravemind, it's just Flood biomass. Although, there is a possibility that the biomass was a Proto-Gravemind due to the evidence that there are tentacles and roots protruding from it but it may have been destroyed during the Flood infected Pelican's rough landing. It is also suggested that this mass is in fact the pilot.

In the beginning of the level, Pelicans will appear around the area. They can be approached, jumped on, and shot at but not boarded.

Just like in Gravemind, the spires that appear in the Sanctum of the Hierarchs can fall if the anti-gravity generator is destroyed. Like in Gravemind, this can not only be used to provide some cover, but also kill any Brutes, Grunts or Flood (with the right timing). You will also notice that one of them has already fallen, once the elevator reaches the top. (These will provide protection from Covenant and Flood fire.)

This is the only level where John-117 says the word "Brute", as well as "Miranda" and "Johnson".

During the part where you reach a canyon-like indoor area, if you look out the window, you can see strange tentacles, said to be just another part of Gravemind.

On Legendary, it is possible to see some invisible Elite Combat Forms and Human Combat Forms walking around. Typically during the fight in front of the Hierarchs' private quarters as one of the last waves of Flood coming from the elevated platforms. This is the second known instance of invisible Flood, first being the armory on The Maw in Halo: Combat Evolved.

In the second room with the glass viewing area two items can be seen. One is probably the Gravemind's limbs, which can be proved by the odd droning noise that can be heard here as well in the cutscene where you meet the Gravemind. The second item is probably the Mausoleum of the Arbiter.

This is the only level where you fight the Flood as John-117 in Halo 2.